Saving on batteries or other maintenance items.... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

chronometers · #1 05-11-2020, 12:53 AM

Has anyone ever used Rakuten to buy maintenance items such as batteries, oil, ATF, tires or other parts?:

https://www.rakuten.com

You sign up and click through their site to buy products from auto parts suppliers such as Advance Auto, Autozone, Auto Barn, Firestone, Goodyear, pep boys, Safelite, tire rack, Walmart, etc. In addition to a first time sign up bonus of $30 (ends 5/11 after that it is $10), you can also score some money back as a percentage of the sale.

I used Rakuten to get money back from Safelite when I replaced a windshield in my E320 CDI last year and got $30 back.

yuke · #2 05-11-2020, 08:32 AM

I never heard of them so whats the catch? How do they make their money just on the membership fees if so what are the annual fees?

Graham · #3 05-11-2020, 10:21 AM

This is also available to Canadians at https://www.rakuten.ca/. I had seen it in past under different name - maybe ebates.com?

Rakuten is a large Japanese company. They own Kobo who are Amazon's main competitor in ebooks. We buy books regularly from them.

Haven't checked the US site discounts, but in Canada they don't look that great. Very small discounts, and almost no car parts.

chronometers · #4 05-11-2020, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yuke

I never heard of them so whats the catch? How do they make their money just on the membership fees if so what are the annual fees?

Rakuten is FREE to join and makes money by sending referral traffic to businesses (affiliate marketing). They get paid a commission for sending that traffic. And then they pay out a portion of that commission to the user that uses the service (you and me). So if Rakuten gets paid a 6% commission for sending business, they might pay you 2% for your purchase.

There is a $30 sign up bonus that ends tonight (plus the rebate which can vary from a few percent to 15% at some stores) but I think you have 90 days to make purchases equal to $30 to get your bonus:

Rakuten, $30 sign up bonus

I've gotten over $400 back in the last year just buying things I had to buy anyway. Ck. it out, they send you a check or put the money in your paypal account, it is a good way to save some money on essential purchases plus the signup bonus is great for the little work it takes to sign-up (you just need an email address and to create a password).

SD Blue · #5 05-11-2020, 04:08 PM

Hmmm.... Consumer Affairs only rates them 2/5 from reviews they have received.

However, it seems that the reviews are either 1 star or 5 star. So there must be some sticky points that are required.

chronometers · #6 05-11-2020, 10:42 PM

Seems they get downgraded if you try to open multiple accounts which makes sense. I've saved quite a bit with them.

chronometers · #7 05-15-2020, 11:26 AM

I just go another $25 deposited in my pAyPal account from Rakuten:

RAKUTEN rebate program

chronometers · #8 05-19-2020, 05:06 PM

Anybody else score some money back using this program?:

RAKUTEN rebate program

Rogviler · #9 05-19-2020, 06:13 PM

Really pimping that affiliate link. How much money do you make off of spamming, anyway?

tdoublenastywitit · #10 05-19-2020, 09:28 PM

Guys he's making money of the link, And sign ups... That catch is ur buying over stocked items and getting $1 discounts

chronometers · #11 05-20-2020, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdoublenastywitit

Guys he's making money of the link, And sign ups... That catch is ur buying over stocked items and getting $1 discounts

Not sure what you mean by overstocked items? You are buying directly from merchants such as Advance Auto, Autozone, Auto Barn, Firestone, Goodyear, pep boys, Safelite, tire rack, Walmart, eBay, Amazon, etc.. You get the same pricing as if you went to those sites directly.

Actually Rakuten is a legitimate way to save money (We saved over $400 last year)...... as long as you go through them for purchases you need to make anyway, using Rakuten is more lucrative than shopping directly.

How can Rakuten pay out all that cash? The misconception occurs largely because people don’t understand how these types of companies make money.

Cashback sites like Rakuten work with affiliate networks that represent online retailers. The cashback sites receive a negotiated percentage of the purchase price for referring new consumers. Some of that cut goes to the shopper and the site keeps the rest.

When users make a purchase via a cashback site, the site places a cookie to track your activity (cookies are simple text files that store information such as the site name and a unique user ID). Cashback sites use cookies to remember the link you used to get to the retailer’s site from the cashback site. This is vital to your cashback journey; without a cookie, the cashback site and affiliate network can’t confirm your purchase or your referral.

Once the retailer confirms the referral was made by a cashback site, it can take several additional weeks to receive the money from the network.

In fact, cashback sites can take anywhere from a couple weeks to several months to pay members their rewards, due to the affiliate networks’ process for confirming purchases. That can seem like a red flag to members who assume they’ll be paid out instantly.

Diseasel300 · #12 05-20-2020, 05:39 PM

And there we go with your personal promo code again...

chronometers · #13 05-24-2020, 04:49 PM

Just showing a good method I have used myself to save on necessary purchases. When I needed a new battery for my '95 E300, I bought the best quality AGM battery available from Advanced Auto Parts since it was made in Germany and AGM battteries last longer and don't leak. It was a lot of money (around $200) though so I came up with the following method.

I signed up for Rakuten and then went through their site to Advance Auto Parts. I purchased the battery with my Advance auto account using a 25% coupon they had sent me as well as speedperks rebate I had. The savings I got from Rakuten was another 1% back plus $10 for signing up. It added a bit of time but by combining savings, I saved quite a bit....almost $100!